The Last Dainv

Chapter 290

Gale slowly spun his body around, taking in the view that the Crystal Falls gave him. The way the light caught the frozen droplets that reflected off each other, slowly floating towards heaven. The constant serene sound of the waterfall made him want to sleep.

"This is too beautiful to be a warzone or a battlefield..." Gale muttered.

"Many stars have passed," Erin said. "A child would not know the scars that time has healed."

A blue light enveloped both of them, her telekinesis lifting them off the ground. They rose alongside the cliffs of the waterfall, passing through the fog and the frozen droplets, rising up higher and higher until they reached the mouth of the walls. When he looked up, all he could remember was mom's stories under the river of stars.

As they settled onto the ground, Gale saw the river that fed the falls. Its clear mirror surface reflected the light above. He had expected a raging river, but this one was a lazy slow-flowing one.

All around the mouth of the falls, stretching in every direction as far as Presence Between could reach, was a flat field. There were no trees or rocks. Instead, an endless expanse of flowers gently swayed as they glowed a soft teal and blue.

Even as snow fell gently from the sky, it never touched the flowers. Each flake dissolved before it could land, as if not wanting to disturb the scenery.

"Beautiful," Gale couldn't help but whisper.

"Below this field," Erin said, "lie the Dainv who gave their lives to fight the tide."

She raised her hand toward the sky, palm facing upward. A magic circle bloomed above them. Billions of dizzying patterns inside the circle shifted in size and spun in independent movements like gears.

"96 Dainv gave their lives here," Erin continued. "A full division. To protect the lives of those who natively lived in this system. They pushed away the tide back through the rip in reality that had opened."

Bright pearlescent crystals started to poke out from the soil as the massive circle above them pulsed with essence. The roots of flowers gave way, pulling free from the soil as the ground shifted to make way for the crystals.

Gale recognized them immediately. Presence Between counted 96 total Origin shards slowly floating above the field. Once they settled got up to a certain height, they began to swirl inwards towards Erin's outstretched palm that reached to the sky.

It looked similar to when Origin was extracted from living beings, except on a much larger scale.

But the Origin shards didn't enter Erin's hand.

They stopped just above her palm, hovering in a tight cluster that cast shifting shadows across her face. She held them there, and then she spoke once again. "The Dainv are not wasteful. When our brethren die, even after death, they may continue their legacy. In spirit, we, the future they never saw, use their cores for purposes that fight against those seeking to harm our verse."

She turned to face Gale. The Origin Shards followed her gaze as they floated gently toward him.

"Take them to your storage," Erin said. "But do not use them. The children of Cev need not consume shards as Origin Extraction already generates them for you. These are meant for other purposes."

The shards hovered before him, close enough to touch and feel the warmth that radiated from all 96.

But Gale didn't reach for them just yet.

"Each one of these is one Dainv?" he asked.

Erin nodded. "Similar to the Core within your spine, these shards are the final remnants of warriors who held the line. A full division comprises 96 warriors. Child, secure them within your space storage."

Gale slowly reached out to one of the first shards. It was warm, similar to the first one that he had encountered in the wild. Yet also cold at the same time. One by one, he put them into the same slot in his space storage.

He had asked Ollie to use a shard on Mia, to cure her of the dust corruption. That meant that he had used up one of the past Dainv to cure his friend.

It would beg the question, did he feel guilty?

He didn't.

Mia needed it. As selfish as he was, he didn't want her to die. But there was a somber feeling that bubbled up inside him anyway. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew that each shard meant more than what he could imagine. And in taking these cores, they'd give them the chance to fight against the oncoming tide.

When the last shard entered his space storage, a total of 96 of them took up one slot. Gale moved to stand beside Erin, turning his head towards her.

She held her usual blank expression as she watched the stars above. "The effort of the past lives on with us. Now stand straight and tall."

Gale straightened up.

"Look up at the stars," she said.

He looked up, watching the river of galaxies slowly turn and unfold above.

"The Dainv have protected the expanse at a scale you cannot imagine," Erin continued. "Every star you see, every world that orbits them, every living being that draws breath under their light. We are the protectors of what you see."

Gale said nothing. There was nothing he could even say. He just stood there beside her, taking in her lecture.

Then Erin began to sing. Her voice was different, and the language she used was not any of the ones that he recognized. Yet somehow, he understood each word's meaning as if he knew the language all along.

In Aurumn's fire may she guide the lost Origin of our brothers and sisters,

Whose flame was stolen by winds unseen.

Upon this stone, I trace names once missed,

And pray you seek them to your embrace.

Let the fire cast away their life regrets.

Forgotten they are not, this vow I keep,

Till we sing again, my dear old friends.

The song lasted for a couple of minutes. An aria that Gale would never forget. In this night sky, and in her cold nurturing voice, it felt as though 96 pairs of eyes seemed to softly marvel at her performance, then disappear when the last note softly faded.

Stolen story; please report.

Erin paused for a long while after the song ended. The flowers swayed gently around them, making the scenery of her blue hair waving along the wind seem even more surreal.

Slowly, she turned her head toward him, then to the patch where the flowers grew thicker. Floating onto it, she lowered herself down and sat, her legs crossing beneath her.

"Sit," she said.

Gale followed as he was told. He settled onto the flowers. They were softer than they looked, cushioning him like a bed of soft grass, except he probably preferred a nice hearty solid rock.

Erin laid down on her back.

Gale did the same, making him feel as though he was falling into the river of stars above as the sky slowly turned with time.

Erin raised one hand and pointed to the left.

"What do you see?" she asked.

Gale followed her finger towards a star, brighter than most, deep red and seeming to twinkle faster than the others around it.

"A bright red star," he said. "Probably moving away from this planet."

"The leader of this division was named Technician Gaia," Erin said. "She had the blood of Asain. Although her machines were crude by Vianne's standards, I respected them. She could build weapons from scrap metal that none of the other Asain Dainvs could rival."

Gale turned his head slightly toward her. "Why suddenly talk about her?"

"The conflict occurred on the crimson world, against the Ocun." Erin's gaze remained fixed on the distant star. "The objective for both factions was control over its strategic mineral deposits. During the engagement, a giant rift manifested without warning. Her division was fractured, its forces scattered into four units. The possibility had not been accounted for."

Smiling, he turned his head back to the star she pointed at.

"Nevertheless," Erin said, "she entered the rift beside that crimson star with just one quarter of her division. 24 Dainv against whatever lay on the other side." A pause. "She closed it without casualties."

"What was inside?"

"She told me afterward. Within the rift, they confronted a multitude of tentacled abominations. Entities that apparently resembled your world's 'squids,' though their scale and hostility were significantly greater. She hated every moment of the rift. It is what she called 'too slimy,' though I am quite unsure why that would matter in culling the corruption."

A slight chuckle escaped Gale. Of course, Erin wouldn't understand when she doesn't even care about damage to her body.

"But she took one of them as a specimen," Erin continued. "For science." Turning her head towards him, she asked him, "Child, what do you think happened to that specimen?"

"Did it escape?"

"No."

"Did they just kill it?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"A Dainv named Master Rashio found it," Erin said. "He was of Cev blood. Like you. When he saw the specimen, he did not see a subject for study. He saw food, grilled it, and ate it immediately."

Gale laughed. Sure enough, if he saw a giant squid, that would be a jackpot. He'd grill it immediately. "Did he like the taste?"

"He did indeed." Erin said.

"What happened to him after?" Gale asked.

"Technician Gaia punished him severely," Erin said. "However, the details of the punishment were never given to me."

Gale laughed harder, almost clutching at his stomach. Imagining himself eating something Erin wanted to study and eating it would have been quite funny as well.

When his laughter faded, Erin raised her hand again. This time, she pointed to the right. A different star, light blue and much dimmer than the others around it.

"Do you feel the weak light coming from that star?" Erin asked.

"Yeah. It must be far away."

"That is the closest star to Kair," Erin said.

"But then why is it so weak?"

"Technician Gaia and Master Lucid never had a good relationship," she said. "They disagreed on many things. Tactics, for one, was a high conflict topic. But both respected each other's abilities.."

She paused.

"On that very star," she continued, "the Mohrusy had created a rift. Not a small one. A rift the size of a moon, tearing through the fabric of space itself. It hung in the orbit of the gas giant that once circled that star, a wound in reality that bled corruption into the system."

Staring at the star, Gale held his words back.

"The rift they entered was that of a Mohrusy homeworld," Erin said. "A world full of spires that pierced clouds of ash. A sky that glowed red, not from stars, but from the blood that rained endlessly from above. The corruption had twisted everything. Made everything into a weapon against life itself."

"Did they win?" Gale whispered.

"They fought with valour in that world," Erin's hand lowered back to her side. "Technician Gaia and Master Lucid led the assault. They destroyed the Mohrusy presence. Shattered their spires. Burned their nests. Completely annihilated their home planet."

"And then?"

"However," Erin said. "Luck was not on their side. An Abyssal Archon emerged from the depths of the corrupted world it had been hiding in. When the Dainv thought they had won, when they turned toward the exit rift to return home, it struck."

A small breeze passed through the fields of flowers, rustling the petals.

"To let Technician Gaia and Master Lucid escape," Erin said, "190 Dainv sacrificed their lives. They formed a defense against the Abyssal Archon and the exit. Held it off with everything they had. Bodies and blades and burning cores."

Gale couldn't really tell if 190 was a lot. But if their kind was so rare, then wouldn't 190 be a massive loss?

"They held long enough for the leaders to pass through and defend the closing exit. And in the final moment, when the Archon tried to force its way through the shrinking tear in reality, the gas giant the rift had clung to exploded."

A planet detonating due to the closing of a rift. 190 warriors disappeared just like that.

"The explosion created a mist," Erin said. "Debris and gas and the remnants of corrupted matter. It has blanketed that star ever since, dimming its light from our view over here in Kair."

The dim blue star in the sky dimly twinkled. Gale knew by now that each star in the sky might have its own story.

Were their deaths heroic? Most probably. But he couldn't help but feel sad at their deaths, just like the ones that died in this field.

"What is an Abyssal Archon?" he asked.

Erin turned her head to look at him. "In the corrupted hierarchy, you should know that their evolution does not end at the stage of a Blighted. A Blighted is the 6th step of their evolution. However, there are 10 steps. An Abyssal Archon is at the 9th step."

"How strong is that?" he asked.

"Impossibly strong," Erin said, and she said nothing else for a while.

There were also more stages in the Dainv hierarchy that Gale wanted to know. What was their limit? Was it higher than 10 steps? Guide wouldn't even tell him since he somehow needed clearance by advancing his Core Class.

He sighed. "What about the Dainv? What's our limit?"

"12 steps. When you enter the 5th Core Class, your core will be reborn into Origin Awakened. From there, you will climb to Origin Resonant, Origin Formation, Genesis Weaver, and Primordial Embodiment. I do not have knowledge of the remaining 3 stages after that."

"Which one are you?" he asked.

"I am at the 6th step, Origin Resonant."

"Are you considered strong?"

"I am not. The Weber proudly specializes in the research of laws and knowledge of the verse. Let the other bloodlines fight. We support with intellect."

Gale suddenly pointed to a star above, a bright green one that seemed interesting. "Does that star have a story too?"

Erin smiled. "Yes it does, child. Do you want to hear it?"

He smiled back and nodded vigorously, ruffling his hair against the flowers beneath him.

Erin told more stories of many Dainvs, from Master Klaid to Researcher Ormis to Technician Grumir. Every time she talked, she would point at a different star.

Researcher Ormis held a banquet at the edge of Quadrant Z152 for the galactical alliance of the area that surrounded the quadrant. Most were not of Dainv origin. However, all of them had to comply due to Ormis's desire to hammer peace into the warring region.

However, a rift had opened right in the middle of the banquet hall of the ship they used, which made Ormis curious about how the Mohrusy created the rift with such precision.

Ormis had conscripted all the leaders into a rift raid to conquer and close the rift. In that rift, the leaders of each race had tried to kill each other in backstabbings, forcing Ormis to close the rift himself.

Master Klaid, on the other hand, was quite odd for being a Cev of Dainv blood. He didn't want to go outside. In fact, he didn't like fighting. But when Erin had visited him, she saw that the reason he didn't like going outside was that he wanted to tend to his voidal pets.

As cute as they were, he was punished for not serving his duty and neglecting the quadrant he was assigned to.

Technician Grumir wasn't sane in the way the Asain Dainvs were. Instead, he seemed to value learning the fundamental laws more than actually just tinkering.

The council of researchers had invited him to create machines for them since he was one of the only ones they trusted to follow the principles rather than just 'making something work'.

Then Erin paused abruptly while talking about him. But then she continued, saying that Technician Grumir had created the first versions of the Rift Aperture System.

The Dainv never really wanted to invade other planes. But the Mohrusy had forced them to.

"If the Collapse did not happen... our technology would have allowed us to cull the corruption many aeons ago," Erin whispered. "Child, we bear burden no other beings can handle. Yet calm times such as this is of abundance. Do not fear that burden."

Gale nodded, knowing full well there will always be times of calm, fun, and chaos all mixed together. When each one arrives, he'll welcome any of them at any time.